The Voyage of the Dolphin by Kevin Smith

The Voyage of the Dolphin

Kevin Smith

Part adventure story part fairy tale set in 1916. Three students from Trinity College Dublin set off on an Arctic voyage to find and bring back to Ireland the remains of the Giant, Bernard McNeil. On board they discover a young female stowaway which adds a little love interest. Good descriptions of the rigours of sea voyages in unknown waters and terrain and of local wild life. An enjoyable read.

Extract
Down in the belly of the Dolphin, alone and in scant lamplight, Phoebe listened to the ocean's unfathomable threats through the timbers and contemplated for the first time the possibility of death. She had faced danger before - some of the stunts she had staged for the suffs had put her in the path of serious violence - but the odds this time were beginning to look grievous .... She conjured a headline - ARCTIC EXPEDITION SHIP FEARED LOST WITH ALL HANDS - and pictured their photographs in a row before she remembered that she wasn't even officially on board, hadn't in fact officially existed for several years
Parallels
  • The Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett
  • The Giant, O'Brian by Hilary Mantel
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